A Mentor's Hand (文豪ストレイドッグス)

11

"Kanata-chan! Mio-san!" Kiyo yelled. She walked up to her classmates, who were enjoying a normal lunch. They looked around, and spotted Kiyo. She raised her hand, and danced up to them. They smiled, slightly confused as Kiyo was usually the silent one.

"Nakahara-san," Mio greeted, smiling brightly. Kiyo smiled, like they were best friends.

"I thought we'd change today up a bit... maybe go off campus for lunch..." kiyo suggested. The girl's looked at each other, deciding in the silent language only they knew. "I thought I'd buy you guys lunch." That decided it.

They left for a cafe, a popular one smacked where Yokohama was fairly busy. The girl's signal (the one she was supposed to be tailing) was close to the Cafe. She checked her watch; an hour until they had to be at school again. She checked her phone; the girl was still around the Cafe.

It took us a whole ten minutes just to get to the Cafe, as chatting the entire way was a must. Mostly the girls talked between themselves, but occasionally they remembered who was treating them to lunch, and included Kiyo in the conversation.

Today, like yesterday, they were talking about the boy who had friended Mio-San on snapchat. His name was Hiroshi, a second dear at our high-school. A whole year ahead of us.

The girls chatted in a animated fashion about the boy, as they only say him every so often. Kiyo pretended to be interested, occasionally throwing in a 'oh my!' Or 'aww.'

Suddenly they switched their attention to Kiyo.

"So tell us, Nakahara-san," they smiled mischievously, "about Tanaka-kun." Kiyo was momentarily confused.

"You literally ran from school like the moon was going to explode, and met him at the gate," Mio reminded her, like 'how could you forget something as important as that?'

"And then you disappear for almost two weeks, Nakahara-san!" They looked at her, expectation heavy on their faces. Thankfully, they reached the Cafe.

Kiyo had forgotten about Tanaka. She had been too tired and much too busy to even remember his existence. Of course, they didn't even know why she was gone. The girl's ordered their food, and sat down by one of the picture windows. Kiyo joined them after ordering a coffee.

Some time later, she spotted the target. "Hey..." she said, catching the girls' attention.

"Who's that?" Mio and Kanata looked out the window to where Kiyo was pointing. They spotted the girl wrapped in white, who was talking to another man. Interesting.

"Do you guys know her by any chance?" Kiyo asked. "No..." Kanata said, genuinely confused. "And the only other school in Yokohama is too far. It takes too long to walk here. There's no sense in it. Plus our lunch hours are separate," Mio added.

Tanaka tossed her short black hair aside, "she's probably just homeless, then," she assumed.

"Only one way to find out," Kiyo persisted, standing up and gathering her things. The girls shrugged, standing up as well.

The doorbell jingled as they made their exit. Not bothering to be discreet, the girls started waving their arms around, calling out to the target. The people around avoided us, making our target even more apparent. Slowly people wedged away from the girl in white, not wanting to be noticed. The person talking to her did the same, disappearing into the crowd before Kiyo could catch his face.

The girl in white seemed to not realize she was being yelled at, and was in fact looking the opposite way. Mio tapped her shoulder, "hey!" She exclaimed, Kiyo trailing a bit behind her. This being the closest to the girl she had been, kiyo was trying to see if she had an ability.

She couldn't find one, and was getting a headache from trying. She gave up, and broke into a big, high-school girl smile. "Do you live around here?" She asks, putting curiosity into her voice.

The girl turned around, an equally bright smile on her face, "just moved!"

She wore a plain white blouse with a gray-ish collar, with a pin attached reading 002. It washed out her silver hair; the only distinguishable feature being the blush that spread across her face.

Something about her eyes struck Kiyo harshly. They were empty, like the hollow pit of death. Unusual eyes, too, as they were almost white, a light blue barely visible around the edges of the pupil. They reminded her of something.

"When are you starting school, then?" Tanaka asked, linking her arms with Mio. The girl tilted her head, " Um... who are you?"

The girls gasped, "Oh I'm so sorry, my name is Hana Mio."

"I'm Akira Tanaka." There was a slight pause. The girl's look at Kiyo.

"Oh, um Kiyo N-Nakahara," she stuttered, saying her surname in almost a whisper. "What's your name??"

"Just call me Mai," the girl responded. Mio and Tanaka giggled. "Well then, I can't wait to see you."

"Oh thank you! Same here," Mai gushed, bowing slightly as she made her escape. Kiyo's two companions murmured to eachother, then looked at their phones in slight dismay. "Kiyo!" Mio exclaimed, "we only have fifteen minutes until the bell rings."

"Oh, we better get back, then. Hope you guys enjoyed your lunch," Kiyo replied distantly, looking at the spot where Mai had been. The girl's said they had indeed enjoyed it, and took off - careful not to leave Kiyo behind.

The rest of the day, Kiyo was very distracted, and was called out multiple times as well. She was also reprimanded for skipping lunch work since she had missed two weeks of school. They were also frustrated as Kiyo couldn't tell them why, either.

Through the punishment, Kiyo was miles away in thought. After school, she phoned Daisuke. "There's been development," she said. "Nothing incriminating, but development nonetheless."